Although I'm unfashionably patriotic when it comes to sport, I'm pleased that the WI are at last getting their act together after years in the cricketing wilderness - this can only be a good thing for cricket, as it might just inspire more youngsters to take up the game in the Caribbean.

Of the cricketing nations, the WI have always given me the greatest pleasure, so welcome back guys!

I agree - a well deserved and pleasing victory. There have been England batting collapses that have hurt in the past, but this was not one of them. It was about the final straw for me on the day prior to the test, when I read that some of England's players were fuming at the prospect of having to give 10% of their IPL money to their counties.

john poole wrote:I agree - a well deserved and pleasing victory. There have been England batting collapses that have hurt in the past, but this was not one of them. It was about the final straw for me on the day prior to the test, when I read that some of England's players were fuming at the prospect of having to give 10% of their IPL money to their counties.

Yes - just hope we are not like the people who turned up at Kings' Cross to welcome the return of a steam engine, because it reminded them of their childhood.

Great to find a West Indian fast bowler, Jerome Palmer, who does not depend on intimidation to be effective - I was always uneasy about Hall and Griffiths, and Ambrose, that didn't seem fair, to be bowling at the batsmen's heads. Now, Palmer and the slow bowler Benn have done it with skill.

Fast bowler Jerome Taylor and left-arm spinner Suliemann Benn produced career-best performances yesterday to lead the West Indies to a resounding innings and 23 runs win over England in the first Test of the 2009 Digicel Home Series at Sabina Park.

The 24-year-old Taylor, who in England's first innings of 318 took 3-74, deceived the tourists with his swinging pace and accuracy yesterday to bag 5-11 for match figures of eight for 85. He was later named man of the match.

Benn, 27, who in the first innings led the way with 4-77, grabbed an equally impressive 4-31, as pre-series favourites, England, trailing by 76 runs on first innings, were bowled out for 51, their second lowest total on Caribbean soil, and third lowest, all time.

Final scores: West Indies 392. England 318 and 51.

First win since 2000

For West Indies, it was their first win over England since 2000, having lost 13 of their past 16 matches against the tourists.

"It was a wonderful performance by all - bowlers and batsmen," said West Indies captain Chris Gayle, whose team was returning a similar treatment dished out by the English-men on their last tour of the Carib-bean in 2003/2004 when, led by fast bowler Steve Harmison they skittled out the West Indies for a second innings total of 47, and took a 1-0 lead. England went on to win the series 3-0.

Gayle added: "The game brought back memories, and it feels good to be on the other side today. From day one we were on the ball, as our bowlers gave us a good start and our batsmen consolidated on that lead. Here today, both Jerome and Sulieman came out again, and bowled with real purpose, and at the end of the day were able to come out of top. The hope now is that we can carry the momentum over into the next matches, and really try to win the series."

Dramatic

In the West Indies' only innings Ramaresh Sarwan top scored with 107, Gayle got 104 while Brendan Nash, in his third Test, added an important 55, his third half century in as many matches.

The dramatic victory took place at approximately 2:30 p.m., 10 minutes before the tea time break.

A number of fans were still filing in through the turnstiles for what was expected to be an enthralling second half of the day's play.

England, who would have been eyeing an early overall lead in the hope of posting a challenging total for the West Indies to chase late on what would have been today's fifth and final day were cut down, one by one, by the swinging pace of Taylor, and the steep bounce and turn of Benn.

All-rounder Andrew Flintoff with 24 was the only batsman to reach double figures for the Englishmen with the rest of the scores reading: 9, 0, 4, 1, 1, 6, 0, 0 and 2 and looking more like a telephone number than a cricket scorecard.

"It was a good Test match performance by the West Indies. Credit to them. They put us under pressure, especially in the second innings and we didn't cope well. We just have to pick ourselves up, look at where we went wrong and try to correct things. We've still got three matches to go in the series," said England skipper, Andrew Strauss.

The West Indies had earlier resumed the day on 352-7 with Nash on 47 and Benn (23) on 10, and, together with Darren Powell (9) and Fidel Edwards (10), they pushed to eight runs shy of the 400 mark.

England pacer, Stuart Broad, playing in his 11th Test, and bowling a good line and length, claimed career-best figures of 5-85, his first five-wicket haul in Tests

Flintoff took two for 72 and Steve Harmison, who failed to repeat his 2003/4 Sabina Park heroics, which netted him career-best figures, 7-12, bagged two for 49.

How many test cricket series have India lost at home? A lot is being made of India's dominance of the second Test in Mohali but how often do India lose at home? What is their win/draw/loss ratio when playing test cricket at home?
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Last edited by dynthina on Mon Nov 16, 2009 6:50 am, edited 1 time in total.

dynthina wrote:How many test cricket series have India lost at home? A lot is being made of India's dominance of the second Test in Mohali but how often do India lose at home? What is their win/draw/loss ratio when playing test cricket at home?